Chapter33- Unpleasant consequences

Sirius glared even more but his glare was interrupted when he was startled by the portrait door banging open.

Chapter 34- Dealing with trouble

Remus re-entered the Marauder’s living room in a rush and approached the couch where he handed a distraught Severus a glass of water.

“Here Sev, drink this,” he said soothingly but the man didn’t move.

Sirius, who was kneeling in front of the couch, took the glass and put it in one of Severus’ hands.

“Drink up Sev. You’ll feel better,” Sirius prodded but Severus just kept gasping and mumbling, his face as white as a sheet:

“Burns…fire…dead.”

Sirius and Remus exchanged worried looks and Remus said firmly, “Sev, drink it. I’ve dosed it with a calming draught.”

“Dragons!” Severus cried and made the other two jump in surprise. “Dragons. Big. Huge. Deadly. Dangerous. Deadly. Burning. Dragons!”

“Okay,” Sirius said slowly, putting the glass down on the coffee table. “Dragons are dangerous. We know that.”

“NO!” Severus cried, grabbing Sirius’ robes with his fists and shaking him desperately. “That’s the first task. Dragons!”

“What?” Remus squeaked as he slumped on the coffee table, shocked. Sirius had stopped trying to free himself and was staring incredulously at Severus.

“Albus just came, after Weasley’s and Harry’s detention, to ask me to brew extra burn salve and venom antidote for Poppy because they are bringing four huge, dangerous, vicious, deadly dragons!” Severus spluttered.

“Four?” Sirius asked in a small voice and Severus nodded.

“Four.”

“One for each Champion,” Remus looked horrified. “Do they have to fight them?”

Severus shook his head, “No, Albus said they have to get past them. They asked for nestling mothers,” he said miserably.

“NESTLING MOTHERS!” Sirius cried.

“They’re the worse kind,” Remus whispered.

The three men did not know what to do or say. They stayed in that immobile shocked position for a long time before they could finally start thinking about how to act.

XXXXXX

“Did someone see you Saturday night?” Sirius asked.

“No, I am sorry. I was just shocked, I didn’t even think that someone might see me,” Severus said as they waited for Harry and Remus in the Room of Requirement for Harry’s training session.

Sirius nodded and looked determined at the door, “We still have eight days before first task. Plenty of time to get him ready.”

“How are we going to do this? We can’t outright tell him. That goes against the rule!” Severus said worriedly.

“Sev, you’re a Slytherin. Act like one. We have to play to Harry’s strength. What is he best at?”

“He’s good at Defense. He’s also pretty good at Potions. He could try to hex the Dragon’s eyes, but he would need a clear shot.”

“Okay, forget what I said. You are obviously having trouble thinking. What would you say James usually got praised for?”

Severus scowled, “His Quidditch abilities but that won’t help Ha- Oh!”

“Yes. Now he only needs the means to get his broom. Filius told me he is having trouble with the Summoning Charm, which considering all the stress he has had lately is not so surprising. So that is what we will focus on today. We will practice his Summoning Charm until he can Summon the whole damn castle if he needs to.”

“He still won’t know he has to face a dragon!” Severus cried exasperated. “And we can’t tell him, thanks to bloody Karkaroff!”

That had been a low blow. Karkaroff had demanded that the Hogwarts’ teachers, especially Remus and Sirius, take a binding oath to not reveal what the tasks were, unless given consent from Bagman or Crouch and unless the other champions had the same privilege.

Sirius sighed and looked annoyed, “Severus, I know that. But you are forgetting one tiny little detail of the oath Karkaroff demanded.”

“What?” Severus snapped.

“He named all the teachers when he asked for the oaths didn’t he?”

“Yes,” Severus answered annoyed.

“In his arrogance he forgot one, one who is quite fascinated with Dragons.”

Severus smiled. Yes, all they had to do was suggest to Hagrid that he should show Harry the Dragons. Maybe let it slip that Harry wouldn’t even know what was expected of him in front of Hagrid.

“You know Sirius, you would have been a great Slytherin,” he drawled.

“Yeah, the Hat thought so too. I disagreed,” Sirius smirked and Severus looked appalled at having been so close to sharing a dormitory with Sirius.

XXXXXXXXX

Severus’ heart clenched when he saw one of the spikes of the Hungarian Horntail graze Harry’s shoulder. Beside him in the teacher’s box, Remus and Sirius were practically hysterical. Remus had practically shredded the hat he had in his hands and Sirius was almost biting out flesh from his fingers. He wished he could demonstrate his fears as freely, but no, he couldn’t. And Bloody Karkaroff insisted on sitting next to him as if they were the oldest of friends. They had never been; even when Severus was a loyal Death Eater, he couldn’t stand Karkaroff.

At least Harry had been forewarned. Sirius had managed to comment near Hagrid that Harry didn’t have a clue about the Dragons and how worried he was about Harry facing them for the first time on the day of the Task. They had made Harry practice the Summoning Charm until he had it perfect reminding him that it served to get you what you needed, and they had exhaustedly reminded Harry what a great flier he was. It paid off; Hagrid showed Harry the Dragons and Harry did exactly what they wanted and had Summoned his Firebolt at the start of the Task.

 Severus also knew for a fact that Harry had warned Diggory. Such a Gryffindor act, Severus snorted. He did admire it, but he would never have leveled the field like that. Diggory had entered willingly, and yes, Fleur and Krum were warned by Maxime and Karkaroff, but that was something Diggory should have known and prepared for. That was the problem with Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors, Severus thought, most of them played fair and didn’t realize other people wouldn’t necessarily do it.

In the supposed name of interest, and in Severus’ opinion sadomasochism, a few teachers, including him and the two Marauders, had gone to see the dragons before the task too. He had listened to Charlie Weasley explain all the ways those vicious creatures could kill his boy. He had scowled at him, not that Weasley knew why. He wasn’t the only one; Remus had been far from his usual polite self and had scowled and grunted at Weasley the entire time as well. Severus found himself curious to know what the boy had done to incur the werewolf’s wrath.

Severus held his breath as Harry soared down towards the eggs and grabbed the golden one and went soaring back up over the stands. He wanted to jump and yell and smile like Sirius and Remus were doing, but he had to keep the sneer on his face. His eyes met theirs though and they knew what he was feeling.

He watched as Harry flew down after the Dragon Keepers subdued the Horntail and was met by Remus, Sirius, Minerva, Hagrid and Moody. He envied them as Harry was hugged by Remus and Sirius, and Sirius hauled him towards the medical tent. After a while he came back out, followed by Neville Longbottom and Ron Weasley, and Severus glared at the latter. Until this morning he had been giving Harry the cold shoulder and now they were best friends again? Humph. He wasn’t that forgiving. Oh, no. He had been especially nasty to Weasley during the detention he and Harry had for fighting with Malfoy. He had given him the slimiest job and even though Harry’s job seemed horrible too, Severus knew that since, unlike Weasley, Harry actually had experience in preparing potion ingredients for the students, he knew how to cut the flobberworms in the best and quickest way.

He looked at the marks the judges gave and wanted to throttle Karkaroff, Four, when he gave his champion a ten after he had squashed half his eggs. “Harry was the best one out there, you idiot! And no, I am not being biased, this is a very objective opinion here!” Great, now he was arguing with himself. He needed to get a life.

XXXXXXX

“Bye Natasha,” Sirius waved happily to a pretty brunette dragon handler.

“You do realize that you shouldn’t be flirting on school grounds in front of the whole student body don’t you?” Remus asked his friend as they left the stadium that had been erected for the first task.

“Who’s flirting here?” Sirius asked. “I merely made a new friend. Natasha is a very nice girl.”

“Yeah, right,” Remus snorted.

“So,” Sirius asked innocently, “What did Charlie do to you?”

Remus eyes narrowed and he scowled, “Nothing.”

“Didn’t seem like nothing. You gave Severus a run for his money on the icy treatment.”

“Well, he was being very nonchalant about the danger Harry was in,” Remus said firmly.

“No he wasn’t. He seemed quite worried actually,” Sirius said smirking. “Is there some other reason you all of a sudden hate Charlie?”

“No there isn’t,” Remus snapped with an expression that said ‘don’t be ridiculous.’

“Right,” Sirius said slowly. “Because if there was, you know it’s just a question of acting.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Remus scowled even more.

“Of course you don’t,” Sirius said supportively. “I am just saying that maybe if you acted, you’d be very well surprised.”

“Sirius, I think you should slow down on the Firewhisky on your night out. It’s obviously affecting your brain.”

Sirius just snorted and shook his head.

xxxxxxx

“Come again?” Harry asked bewildered.

“The champions have to open the dance,” McGonagall said in a no-nonsense tone from her desk. She had asked Harry to stay behind, and had informed him that he needed a date for the Yule Ball, and that he had responsibilities.

“I don’t dance,” Harry said with wide eyes.

“I am sure Remus and Sirius taught you how to dance.”

“No, they taught me how to hex, how to duck, how to play pranks and fly; there was no dancing in my lessons!”

“But you’ve always attended Ministry functions and your father educated you on the pureblood ways,” she said firmly.

“The children aren’t expected to dance,” Harry said. “And dad had more pressing priorities than dancing.”

“Well,” she said a little uncomfortable. “Then I am sure you will remedy that. Now move along, you have classes.”

Harry left the room in a state of shock and kept shooting bewildered glances at McGonagall until he was through the door.

“Harry, are you okay mate?” Ron asked. Neville, Hermione and him had stayed outside waiting for him.

“I have to dance!” Harry cried horrified.

“What?” Neville asked.

“Of course you do,” Hermione huffed. “The Champions open the dance.”

“There’s a dance?” Ron asked in the same state of shock as Harry.

“It’s called a Ball for a reason Ron,” she answered annoyed.

“I can’t dance,” Neville squeaked.

“Me neither,” Ron said looking worried and Harry nodded.

“Well, then I guess you three better hurry and learn how to then,” she said smirking and almost skipped away as she left the three boys horrified.

XXXXXXX

That night at dinner, Sirius approached Harry at the Gryffindor Table with a grim face.

“Harry, I need a favor from you,” he said gesturing for Harry to follow him.

Harry nodded, waved goodbye to his friends and followed Sirius out of the Hall and down the stairway that led to the kitchens.

“Hum, dad I have already had dinner.”

“I know. There is a situation in the kitchen that needs your attention. We have tried to solve it by ourselves but we just gave up!” Sirius cried helplessly and Harry nodded solemnly. What could have happened that only he could help? Help, Harry slapped his forehead, he almost forgot!

“Harry?” Sirius asked worried.

“I forgot to tell you dad. Bagman was acting weird at the first task. He offered to help me, you know, give me advice. Said I was the underdog and no one would know. I said I had it covered.”

Sirius frowned, “Strange. Did he offer anyone else help?”

“I don’t think so,” Harry shook his head as Sirius tickled the pear in the portrait that led to the kitchens.

“I’ll try to find out more then,” Sirius said as they entered and Harry had a first glance at the situation. Two house-elves were playing tug war with one of Harry’s robe.

“I is cleaning Harry Potter’s clothes!” one said and Harry did a double take. It was Dobby.

“No you is not. I is Master Harry Potter Black’s elf and I is always taking care of Master Harry!” Kreacher cried.

“They’ve been at this for a couple of weeks already, ever since Dobby arrived. Every time there is something related to you they fight over who has the right to do it. I tried explaining to Dobby that Kreacher had always taken care of your needs here at Hogwarts, but it didn’t work,” Sirius sighed.

Harry approached the two elves and crouched down, holding his hand up in a peace gesture. “Dobby. Kreacher,” he called but the little elves were still fighting. He called a little louder and Kreacher let go of the robe immediately and turned to Harry, sending Dobby tumbling backwards.

“Dobby,” Harry cried. “Are you hurt?”

“No, Harry Potter sir. Dobby is fine. Dobby is honored Harry Potter is concerned and Dobby is taking very good care of Harry Potter’s needs,” Dobby finished clutching the robe and glaring at Kreacher.

“Master Harry sir, please tell Dobby,” Kreacher spat the name as if it were an insult, “That Kreacher is Master Harry’s elf.”

Harry sighed and nodded, “You see Dobby. Kreacher is right,” Dobby’s big green eyes started to water and his lips trembled and Harry rushed. “Kreacher has been the family elf since before I was born and always took good care of me. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t do anything for me. You see, Hogwarts is my home. So if you are helping the other elves take care of the castle and the other students you are taking care of my needs too, even if you are not taking care of me directly. You see?”

Kreacher looked smug and bowed to Harry as he left, taking Harry’s robe from Dobby. Dobby was nodding a little too dejectedly for Harry’s taste though. Harry looked at Sirius but he just shrugged helplessly. Then Harry smiled and said more confidently, “Dobby. You know my friend Neville Longbottom?” Dobby nodded, “Well, he is one of my best friends and he is always working in the greenhouse and is always getting dirt and stuff like that on his clothes. So he needs special attention with his clothes. If you could please take care of his clothes exclusively you would be doing me a huge favor, ‘cause then I wouldn’t have to hear Nev always go on about how his Gran is going to kill him.”

Dobby’s eyes brightened and he said eagerly, “Harry Potter is needing for Dobby to take care of his Longy.”

“Definitely,” Harry said relieved. “And if you have time, only if you have time you can take care of Ron Weasley’s and Her- Ron Weasley, just his and Neville’s stuff. They are my best friends and it would be like taking care of me.”

“Dobby is taking care of Harry Potter’s Longy and his Wheezy, Dobby is,” Dobby nodded solemnly.

Harry grinned and Sirius gave him the thumbs up. He sat down at one of the four tables in the kitchen and asked the little elf, “Now Dobby, how is it you ended up here at Hogwarts?”

XXXXXXX

Harry entered the Common Room happily and flopped down on an armchair.

“Okay, say it,” Neville said. “What have you done that has made you so smug?”

“Well, apart from averting a crisis,” he said slowly pointing to himself, “I solved our problem,” he finished gesturing to Ron and Neville.

“What problem and how?” Ron asked.

“I asked my dad for dancing lessons,” he smirked. “So, this weekend be prepared because Messers Moony and Padfoot will teach us all they know.”

Neville and Ron brightened at this and Hermione asked, “What crisis did you avert?”

Harry looked up and said, “You’ll never guess.” And he told them all about Dobby and Winky coming to Hogwarts, leaving the whole Kreacher-Dobby issue out. Hermione would frown upon his solution, and Ron would view it as charity and not Harry trying to keep the elf happy. That was mainly the reason he had chosen Neville as the primary target of the elf’s help, he just added Ron to keep Dobby occupied and therefore happy. He also told them that Winky wasn’t doing all that well with being free even though she had a place to work. She had been very distressed when he told her Mr. Crouch wasn’t looking that well either, and kept repeating that she kept her Master’s secrets and that Mr. Bagman was a bad wizard.

“Dad was really interested in that because I had just told him about Bagman trying to cheat for me, but Winky wouldn’t spill what she knew. Dad said that maybe it was because Bagman had been on trial for treachery, apparently he passed some Death Eater named Rockwood information, but dad reckons he did that because he was stupid not evil. He said he didn’t know the bloke was a Death Eater. Dad wanted to know if Winky knew something else that he didn’t. No luck there.”

Hermione frowned, “Bagman was in a perfect position to put your name in that Goblet. But if he wanted you dead, why would he try to help you?”

“To avert suspicion maybe?” Neville said.

“Maybe,” Hermione frowned pensively.

XXXXXXX

After two whole days of stepping on each other’s and Remus and Sirius’ feet every second of their free time, Ron, Harry and Neville were ready to dance. Okay, they were no Baryshnikov, but at least they weren’t stepping on anyone’s toes anymore. Remus clapped his hands, and smiling said, “I don’t think you’ll be too shabby at all boys. You still have some time to practice more anyway. Your dates will be well impressed.”

The three boys’ eyes widened and they spluttered, “Dates?”